Published: Thursday January 24, 2013 MYT 10:53:00 PM
Updated: Thursday January 24, 2013 MYT 10:54:38 PM
I'm the boss at Mercedes, says defiant Ross Brawn
LONDON: Ross Brawn says he remains in charge at Formula One team Mercedes despite the arrival of Toto Wolff as executive director.
Mercedes' parent company Daimler have decided to shake up the management structure in the Britain-based team, with Wolff arriving from Williams and taking a stake in Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix (MGP) Ltd.
Three-time world champion Niki Lauda, a current non-executive chairman of MGP, will also acquire shares in the company, but Brawn is adamant that his authority has not been undermined.
"Toto is coming in and there is another side of the business that, quite frankly, I don't want to get involved in," he said on Thursday.
"I don't want to get involved in the commercial activities and with the support we need to give Daimler on a day-to-day basis.
"There are a lot of things Toto will be doing which are complementary to what I am doing in terms of running the team.
"But you have to have one reference. Everybody knows the only way a racing team will work is to have one reference, and I'm that reference.
"I am the team principal and I am in charge of sporting, technical and racing matters."
Brawn was speaking on the day new driver Lewis Hamilton addressed his Mercedes colleagues for the first time at their base in Brackley, central England.
The 2008 world champion, who left McLaren at the end of last season, said he had been given assurances by Brawn that the 58-year-old's role would not be changing.
"I don't read all the stories that come out, but if I've any problems or I do hear any whispers then I can give him a call, which I did, and he set me straight right away," Hamilton said.
"We already have that kind of good relationship. We have had a respectable relationship for some time now.
"From the beginning I said I'll always be blunt. It's important we have an open relationship. That's the way best way to start and he was positive about that."
- Chong Wei urges team-mates to bounce back from shock defeat to Taiwan
- Koo-Tan’s stunning loss rocks Malaysian camp
- Kien Keat-Boon Heong may not play in Group C tie against Germany
- Danial shatters 100m mark as four records fall on opening day
- Sindhu shines for India after spectacular performance
- Dani reigns in Le Mans
- Wee Wern relishes playing at unique venue ... a football stadium
- Golf: Johnson triumphs by one stroke at Mobile Bay LPGA
- KLHC to the fore again
- Kjaersfeldt ready to continue strong Danish tradition
- ‘Comeback king’ Timothy lands his second title
- Golf: Johnson triumphs by one stroke at Mobile Bay LPGA
- Results worldwide
- Bradley clings to lead in Texas with surging Korean one stroke adrift
- Classy Williams sweeps Azarenka aside in final
- Kien Keat-Boon Heong may not play in Group C tie against Germany
- Kjaersfeldt ready to continue strong Danish tradition
- Broad salutes Anderson as England hammer Kiwis
- Aussie Griffin an easy winner at fog-bound Korean Open
- Sarawakian Daniel makes a winning return from injury
RSS
